HATFIELD, England, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Eisai, one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical companies, is expanding the geographical reach of its UK Hatfield headquarters (HQ). The £100 million facility opened as Eisai's European hub in 2009 and will now support the company's growing European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) business.

Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai is expanding its base in Britain to cover the EMEA, underscoring the importance the company attaches to its presence in the UK and importantly, creating the opportunity for more jobs at the Hatfield facility.

Gary Hendler commented on the expansion as the new President and CEO of the EMEA region: "Eisai has been successfully operating in Europe for more than 20 years and we are deeply proud to be expanding our efforts to increase access to medicines based on a long-term sustainable strategy to improve affordability, availability and adoption. Our new UK-based EMEA hub will support these efforts, as well as improving knowledge interaction across the region, including shared pricing/reimbursement strategies and the transmission of medical and marketing knowledge."

The new EMEA expansion is part of the company's plan to have a presence in the top 20 pharmaceutical market regions by 2015.

"We chose to base our EMEA operations in the UK as we recognise the country's importance as a global hub for the pharmaceutical industry. Initiatives to support the life sciences sector championed by The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) have added to our ability to cure and care for the health and wellbeing of more people across the EMEA region," continued Gary Hendler, Eisai EMEA President and CEO.

About Eisai's Commitment to Neglected Tropical Diseases

Alongside other leading pharmaceutical companies, Eisai signed a declaration earlier this year in London with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the WHO, the US and UK governments, the World Bank and governments from neglected tropical disease (NTD) endemic countries to make a coordinated effort to eliminate 10 NTDs by 2020. Eisai is the only Japanese company to join the 'London Declaration'.

About Eisai's Commitment to Improving Global Access to Medicines

Today, it is estimated that some 2.7 billion* people around the world live on US$ 2 or less per day. Most of these 2.7 billion people do not have access to essential health care and treatment despite the availability of effective medicines. This is an international challenge that needs to be solved through collaborations among governments, international organisations such as the WHO, non-governmental organisations and pharmaceutical companies.

In line with its human health care (hhc) mission, Eisai is committed to improving global access to medicines over the medium-to-long term through partnership strategies that involve working with governments, international organisations, private entities and non-profit organisations. Specifically, the company has developed and is implementing a five-target approach to improve access to medicines worldwide. The five key components are: product creations, strategic solutions, capacity building, quality innovation, and long-term investment.

For further information on Eisai's Access to Medicines initiatives, please visit the Access to Medicines page on the Eisai Global website: http://www.eisai.com/company/atm/index.html

* Source: World Bank (2005)

About Eisai

Eisai is one of the world's leading R&D-based pharmaceutical companies that has defined its corporate mission as "giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides," which we call human health care (hhc).

With operations in the U.S., Asia, Europe and its domestic home market of Japan, we employ more than 11,000 people worldwide. In Europe, Eisai undertakes sales and marketing operations in over 20 markets, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands and Belgium. For further information please visit our web site http://www.eisai.com